IRVINE : Residents Unhappy With Cable Boxes

Autumn has brought more than falling leaves to the neatly trimmed lawns of the Woodbridge village.

To the dismay of some unsuspecting residents, Dimension Cable is installing metal boxes as tall as three feet along the grassy city-controlled easements in front of many homes.

“They didn’t let us know what was happening,” said resident Duffy Riebe, a local real estate agent. “People would go to work, and when they’d come home, the box would just be there. . . . There was no warning.”

In a neighborhood where paint colors and roofing materials are strictly regulated, the boxes are viewed by some as unattractive, not welcomed and will force down property values.

A group of residents last week appealed for the City Council’s help in getting the boxes removed. But officials said there was little they could do because Dimension Cable’s franchise agreement permits the company to use city easements to provide cable service.

The green-colored boxes house electronic equipment such as amplifiers and fiber-optic receivers. The equipment is being installed as part of Dimension’s efforts to improve picture quality and increase the number of available channels, said Mark Stucky, the company’s general manager.

Workers have already installed about 500 boxes, and hundreds more are scheduled to go up as the upgrade project comes to other villages of Irvine.

Dimension officials acknowledged that the boxes are controversial. Stucky said the company has received 150 calls from concerned residents since installations began earlier this year in the Northwood village.

Though the company did not give residents warning, Stucky said that Dimension did send notices to the affected homes telling of general cable construction work. “Maybe we were not as specific as we could have been,” he said. “We are not going out into the community and asking for permission.”

Woodbridge resident Ruth Burrows can attest to that.

When cable workers began digging around her neighborhood a few weeks ago, she assumed they were working with underground cables. Then one day, a neighbor called to say that a green box had been installed in front of her house.

“I think the first impulse you have every time you see the thing is to back over it” with the car, Burrows said. “I think it just destroys the look of the neighborhood.”

Burrows and other residents also fear that the boxes will drive down the values of homes.

“It will definitely affect property values,” Riebe said. “If you have two or three homes with the same floor plans on the market, people are not going to want the one with the tower in the front.”

Dimension officials urged residents with questions or concerns about the boxes to call the company. Stucky said the company will deal with all complaints. In some cases, the boxes can be moved or made to look “less obtrusive,” he said.